This standard focuses on student understanding of the food chain in water and land environments. It focuses on the types of relationships among living organisms and their dependence on each other for survival. The strand focuses on the life processes of plants and animals and the specific needs of each. The major topics developed in the strand include the basic needs and life processes of organisms, their physical characteristics, orderly changes in life cycles, behavioral and physical adaptations, and survival and perpetuation of species. This strand includes science standards K.7, 1.4, 1.5, 2.4, 3.4, 4.4, and 6.7. It is intended that students will actively develop and utilize scientific investigation, reasoning, and logic skills (3.1) in the context of the key concepts presented in this standard.
Virginia Standards of Learning
The student will investigate and understand relationships among organisms in aquatic and terrestrial food chains. Key concepts include a) producer, consumer, decomposer; b) herbivore, carnivore, omnivore; and c) predator and prey.
Understanding the Standards
A food chain shows a food relationship among plants and animals in a specific area or environment.
Terrestrial organisms are found on land habitats such as deserts, grasslands, and forests. Aquatic organisms are found in water habitats such as ponds, marshes, swamps, rivers, and oceans.
A green plant makes its own food using sunlight, air, and water. Green plants are producers.
A consumer is an animal that eats living organisms (plant or animal).
Certain organisms break down decayed plants and animals into smaller pieces that can be used again by other living organisms. These organisms are decomposers.
A food chain, which shows part of a food web, can have an animal that eats only plants (herbivore). It can have an animal that eats only other animals (carnivore). It can also have an animal that eats both plants and animals (omnivore).
An animal can hunt other animals to get its food (predator).
An animal can be hunted by another animal for food (prey).
Lauber, Patricia, and Holly Keller. Who Eats What? Food Chains and Food Webs. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1995. Print. 0064451305 - Interesting, written on a level primary school students can understand, and packed with information
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Mason, Cherie. Everybody's Somebody's Lunch: The Roles of Predator & Prey in Nature. Gardiner, Me.: Tilbury House, 1998. Print. 0884481999 - This Teacher's Guide provides educators with information, activities, and play that can easily be incorporated into wildlife and nature study programs. These critical environmental lessons are structured so that they are interesting, instructive, and fun.
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Kalman, Bobbie. What Is an Omnivore? New York: Crabtree Pub., 2008. Print.0778776697 -A great book to introduce omnivores to students.
-http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/administration_pdf/lppredator.pdf - A fun and quick activity for students to learn about the relationship between predator and prey. Might consider playing it multiple times in the classroom for students to truly grasp the concept.